"Snipers on rooftops have targeted protesters, bystanders who were trying to help the wounded and ambulances. The mission also documented incidents of summary execution outside the context of the demonstrations and during house-to-house searches and in hospitals.”

US envoy Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe sent a message to the Syrian government saying that the world would not “turn a blind eye” to what is going on in the country.

At the Yusuf Square in central Damascus supporters of Presdient Bashar al-Assad took to the streets in support of their leader with one saying: "All the Syrians, old and young, will stand by President Assad's side, to build the country, to reform and to get things right if things go wrong.

"We don't want any intervention from any other side."

Portraits of the president were hung around the square and the people said they saw themselves as under attack from outside forces.

“We will defend our president and our country with our lives, (with) our sons and daughters, and everything we have, including the army.” explained one supporter.